This morning we visited StoryCorps participant Glenn House and his wife Kathleen at their gallery and studio in Gordo, Alabama. It was once a Napa Auto Parts shop and they’ve kept the old sign up, simply painting over everything but "A-R-T" in the word "Parts". Among many other things, Glenn makes clay masks which he claims are self portraits. Above, he demonstrates the likeness.

Glenn’s mother ran a curious establishment in Gordo called Ma ‘Cille’s Museum of Miscellanea. A compulsive collector, she exhibited a variety of unusual things including taxidermist road-kill, a whiskey still operated by Manequins and a jar containing her chewed gum collection. Ma ‘Cille has passed and the museum is no more but Glenn still has remnants of his mother’s collection lying around his studio including these doll parts which she used to dig up.

Across the street is a building that Glenn and Kathleen are currently setting up to be a type-shop, paper making facility and community book arts center. Above Facilitator Nick Yulman receives a lesson on operating one of their antique letter presses.

It quickly became clear that a stay in Tuscaloosa, AL wouldn’t be complete without a University of Alabama football game. Thanks to the generosity of Linda and David Ford, facilitators Maisie Tivnan and Nick Yulman found themselves in the end zone at one of Alabama’s biggest games of the year: the stand off between the Crimson Tide and Louisiana State University. Four hours and four hot dogs later, Alabama lost the game in overtime and we straggled out of the stadium with 60,000 other fans, exhausted, hoarse from all the screaming and a little bit deaf.

The tailgating celebrations offered as much entertainment as the game itself. After capturing the sounds of Alabama’s "Million Dollar Band" practicing on the quad before the game, facilitator Nick Yulman found some LSU fans to provide us with a colorful sampling of pre-game trash-talking.

Today, veterans of multiple generations came to the booth to talk about their experiences serving.

Alabama Public Radio’s Kathy Henslee, who arranged today’s interviews, talks with WWII vet John Henderson. John told the story of having his plane shot down and spending time in a POW camp.

Iraq War veteran Margaret Christie came in with her brother Les Minges, seen here holding her daughter, who was just three months old when she was deployed. Les has just finished officer training and will be soon head to the Middle East to join his sister’s former unit. In the booth, she gave him some advice about serving in Iraq and they reminisced about growing up in Alabama and Sierra Leon.

In the woods outside of Greensboro, AL there’s an interesting fellow named Music Man, aka Mr. Eyes Cancer, aka Jimmy Lee Matthews.
We heard that he likes visitors so we decided to seek him out. Above, Facilitator Nick Yulman stands in front of Music Man’s elaborate hog gate and, as directed, calls him. When closed, the gate blocks cars from entering but allows Music Man to pass through on his motor scooter.

Music Man’s old house burned down in a fire, so Samuel Mockbee’s wonderful Rural Studio project built him a new one. Combining innovative design, economical construction and ecologically sound operation the house is quite something. Music man has made it his own, filling it with a rumbling sound system which employs a wiring scheme only he can understand. He lives with numerous dogs: Shaggley Fool, Mouse, Bat Girl & Tail, to name a few.

Music Man sang us some of his songs, many of which start with him performing a dramatic scene. Here, he holds pebbles he collected for use as prop dice in his song "What’s a Nice Girl Like you Doing in Place Like This?".

Our favorite song of his goes:
"You don’t need to look in the mirror, I’ll be your mirror baby/
I’ll be your mirror telling you, ‘you’re looking good!’"

The first Thursday of every month is Art Night in Tuscaloosa. The area’s galleries stay open late and people make the rounds.

We stuck around after hours and kept the booth open for visitors to stop by – none cuter nor more skilled behind the mixing board than Rachel.

Here’s the booth in situ on Art Night in Kentuck’s lovely courtyard.

We rolled into Tuscaloosa and received a warm welcome, as well as lots of wine and cheese, at a reception hosted by Alabama Public Radio at the historic Jameson House. Above, StoryCorps Facilities Manager, Kayvon Bahramian explains the project to a rapt audience while Facilitators Maisie Tivnan and Nick Yulman wait to talk about their experiences and beg for tickets to the upcoming Alabama Crimson Tide/LSU football game. Before the evening was up, Linda and David Ford kindly donated their tickets to the big game, which has Tuscaloosans even more excited than the presence of a national oral history project in their town.

The booth is situated across the Black Warrior River in Northport, AL next to a huge red dog at the Kentuck Art Center. Kentuck celebrates folk art and traditional crafts and is located on a beautifully landscaped courtyard housing a blacksmith’s shop and various artist’s studios.